Sauna

Inside a rough-timbered bathhouse doorway, a nude young woman stands with one hand braced on the frame, firelight glowing behind her, while a second woman sits below, her lower body wrapped in a bright red cloth and her hair bound in a white towel. Bundles of birch branches hang on the wall, and a wooden washtub and ladle sit at their feet, with snow visible on the ground outside.

Oil paint renders the flesh in warm, softly modeled tones against the cool blue-grey of weathered log walls, the contrast heightened by an orange glow from the unseen stove. Broad, textured brushwork describes the timber and snow while the figures are smoothly painted, lending the scene a warm, intimate hush.